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Title: The Pullman Boycott
A Complete History of the R.R. Strike
Author: W. F. Burns
Release Date: May 1, 2011 [EBook #36004]
Language: English
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The Pullman Boycott
A Complete History
of
The Great R. R. Strike.
BY W. F. BURNS.
1894:
THE McGILL PRINTING CO.
ST. PAUL.
COPYRIGHTED 1894
by
W. F. BURNS.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER.
PAGE.
I—The American Railway Union,
7
II—The Boycott,
15
III—First Day of the Strike,
26
IV—An Appeal from Debs,
32
V—The Federal Government Sides with the Managers,
40
VI—Troops at Blue Island,
51
VII—A Protest from Gov. Altgeld,
55
VIII—Incendiarism and Bloodshed,
66
IX—Slaughter of Citizens,
81
X—Business Men's Protest,
92
XI—Indictment of President Debs,
100
XII—A Protest by the Peoples Party,
108
XIII—An Offer of Settlement,
115
XIV—Debs in Jail,
124
XV—Blacklisting Begins,
139
XVI—Trial of Debs,
147
XVII—A Convention of the American Railway Union Called to Take
Action on the Strike,
159
XVIII—The Strike Lost,
167
XIX—The Commission,
176
XX—Altgeld Investigates Pullman,
288
XXI—Conclusion,
310
INTRODUCTORY.
In presenting this work to the public, I beg leave to say that I lay no claim whatever to literary ability, and will ask the
reader to kindly overlook the crudeness of this my first effort.
My line of work since boyhood has been confined principally to railway service; in short I am a switchman, and in
that branch of the service, have been frequently confronted with the differences that arise between the management of
the various railroad corporations and their employees.
While I disclaim any credit for ability as a writer, by years of experience and careful study of the condition of affairs
as they have in the past and do in the present exist, I profess to be able to fairly present the facts of the Pullman strike.
This strike was a matter of unusual interest to me, not alone because my individual interests were involved, but because
the independence of every man in America who earns his bread by the sweat of his brow, was in the balance.
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The right to organize for mutual protection was questioned, nay more, the right to be heard, a right granted to the
greatest criminal in any part of the civilized world, was refused by the power representing the capital of this country.
This power fortified by the Federal troops, by the mandate of the Federal courts, instigated by the chief executive, the
president of the United States, the account of this strike as presented to the public by the Associated Press, was
George M. Pullman's and the General Managers' side of the question, distorted and colored to suit their purposes.
My aim in presenting this book, is to disabuse the minds of the people as far as possible, from the misleading
statements given out by the General Managers' Association through their mouth piece, the Associated Press.
To this end I have carefully collected facts from the best and most reliable sources, aside from what personal
knowledge I had of this strike.
I obtained information from telegrams received in our Central Committee rooms, from all parts of the country, also
from committees appointed to investigate the authenticity of reports received from different parts of the country where
the strike extended.
The general accounts I quote largely from the "Chicago Times," a paper whose honorable and manly stand
throughout that great struggle, gained for it a world wide reputation for honesty and fairness.
The accounts herein contained are truths pure and simple, and upon these truths I base the merits of this book.
Very respectfully,
W. F. Burns
CHAPTER I.
THE AMERICAN RAILWAY UNION.
In order to give a clear conception of the greatest strike in the history of railroad organizations, it will be necessary to
go back to the birth of the American Railway Union.
This organization was instituted on the 17th day of August, 1893, in the city of Chicago, and owes its existence to its
present leader Eugene V. Debs.
Mr. Debs' connection with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen dates back to the early seventies, and be the
credit due to that organization for introducing to the laboring people of America, a leader who stands absolutely without
a peer in the labor world to-day, possessed of the collective traits of some of the greatest men of the past.
I know no better description of Debs than that of Wm. C. Pomeroy in the Eight Hour Herald, as follows: "I am sitting
on the stage of a great meeting of people, my eyes are closed in dreamy reverie, I hear a voice whose resonant tones
are familiar to my ears, the voice, the words bear me in imagination back to the days of Rome, and Caius Gracchus is
proclaiming the coming liberty of the people. The words of flaming eloquence suddenly change into the rugged tones of
Cola di Rienzi, crying: 'Arouse, ye Romans; arouse, ye slaves.' The words are sweet to the ears, and stir my soul to
extacy. Soft, I am no longer in the Eternal City, but wander among the hills and dales of Judea, and the voice has
changed again. This time 'tis the compassionate tones of Him of Galilee, beseeching to 'love ye one another,' now swift
changing in its mellifluous harmony, I hear Pandora whisper 'the dawn approaches, take heart of hope,' and Prometheus
answers with the echoed groans of the suffering, sighing souls. The air is now filled with stirring martial music, and above
its changing cadences pours forth in passionate appeal the stentor voice of Peter, the Hermit, raising in the bosom of
men, the lethargic love of duty. Aye; on the German hilltops, pulpited he speaks, and Hermanic in deep-toned thunder
hurdles back, 'I come.' Now there is a silence for a space, and the changing draperies of imagination disclose a newer
scene. I am in the meeting of the Virginian Burgesses, and the voice has taken on the tones of Patrick Henry. It says:
'Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,' and, 'he who would be free himself must strike the blow.' Now 'tis Thomas
Jefferson giving utterance to, 'we hold these truths to be self evident that all men are born free and equal.' And lo! even
as the soft tones of the 'chosen son' die into the distance, the voice of Andrew Jackson hurls forth the edict 'each man
and every man in this country, by the eternal, must and shall be free.'
"The echoing ages take up the dictum and it becomes mingled with the tones of him who at Gettysburg spoke the
immortal flaming words: 'This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and the government of the people,
by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.' Scarce had the utterance of the martyr ceased to fill
the air when Lowell softly says:
"'He's true to God, who's true to men, whenever wrong is done.
To the humblest and the weakest of all the beholding sun;
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That wrong is also done to us, and they are slaves most base,
Whose love of right is for themselves, and not for all the race.'
"My brain is puzzled. How comes it, I ask myself, that these heroes dead and gone are near me here to-day?
"What power permits them to quit their abiding places within the crusty bosom of mother earth, and visiting again the
haunts of mortal man, pour forth their immortal utterances? My rummaging mind takes on a newer consciousness.
Reverie lifts her leaden hand from off my brow, my eyes open and gaze upon a vast multitude of people—men, women
and children. Men are standing on the seats and hurling their hats in the air; women are weeping in joy and waving
handkerchiefs, all, all shout in clamorous accord. Their eyes are riveted upon the stage, and upon a man who is
gracefully bowing acknowledgement to the thunders of applause. I am near him, I gaze in his face. 'Tis the face of
Eugene V. Debs."
To my mind the above beautiful comparisons are not overdrawn.
In 1874 he was admitted to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, and in 1877 his brother members of the local
lodge, recognizing his superior ability, sent him to the Indianapolis convention to represent them. The next year he was a
delegate to the Buffalo convention. Here he was chosen associate editor of the Locomotive Firemen's Magazine, and
three years later he was elected editor, and assumed full control.
In September, 1880, he was elected Grand Secretary and Treasurer in Chicago, and to prove the confidence placed
in him by this organization, he was unanimously elected to that office for thirteen consecutive years without a dissenting
vote, and at the last convention, held in San Francisco, he was again nominated after making a speech, courteously but
firmly declining, and was finally forced to refuse the nomination before his declinature would be accepted.
When Mr. Debs assumed control of this office, the Brotherhood was on the verge of disruption.
From this condition he, by his untiring devotion and wonderful executive abilities, elevated the Brotherhood to one of
the most powerful organizations of the age, and thus it was through the instrumentality of the Brotherhood of
Locomotive Firemen he was brought before the laboring people. Some few years ago he saw that class organization
would not be successful, owing to the petty jealousy existing between the different orders, and that in every instance
where one organization had a grievance with a railroad corporation, the management would use one or all the others to
crush the one having the grievance.
In order to remedy this, he promulgated a plan of federation whereby all the different organizations, engineers,
firemen, conductors, trainmen and switchmen would stand as a unit in case of a grievance.
This federation was accomplished, but owing to the treachery of some of the chiefs, proved unsatisfactory and was
finally dissolved.
But this did not discourage Mr. Debs, on the contrary, it made him more determined than ever to save the employes
from the grinding power of railroad corporations, and to that end he instituted the American Railway Union, embracing
all classes in the railway service from the trackmen to the engineers. This infant organization that so recently became
such a power, was by no means the offspring of a premature conception. President Debs deliberated long and well,
carefully considering all the points, and conscientiously weighing the advantages and disadvantages that would arise
from the formation of such a union, before taking active steps to organize.
He finally decided that in the American Railway Union were the only true principles of organization, and in
conjunction with a few of his associates, men true as steel, such men as Howard, Rodgers, Burns and, Kelliher, this
union was founded.
The first strike that was authorized by the American Railway Union was that on the Great Northern Railway Line,
against a sweeping reduction in wages in all departments on that system.
This strike commenced on April 13, and after a stubborn fight of eighteen days (where one of the shrewdest and
ablest railroad presidents in the United States was met in his every stronghold and defeated by the grandest labor leader
in the world, the matchless Debs) the strike was settled, and victory perched on the banner of the American Railway
Union.
Then it was that the true principles of this organization were recognized by railroad employes, and applications for
charters came pouring in from all parts of the country.
CHAPTER II.
THE BOYCOTT.
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The American Railway Union is in every sense an American Institution, whose aims and objects as previously stated
are to protect and shield its members from the grinding power of railroad corporations. Its motto is unity: "One for all
and all for one."
The Pullman employes were admitted to this organization and consequently entitled to the protection guaranteed to all
members, therefore when they walked out, after every honorable means to avert a strike was exhausted, the American
Railway Union was in duty bound to sustain them.
The strike was ordered on the 11th day of May, after an all night session by a committee of forty-six members
representing every department in the Pullman works. When the word was given four thousand employes responded to
the call, and this proved to be the beginning of the most gigantic strike in the history of organized labor.
The wrongs of the Pullman people were not generally known to the public, the cruel and inhuman treatment they
were subjected to, was kept strictly from the public ears.
They were reduced to a condition of slavery beneath that of the black slave of the South prior to the civil war, for
while the black slave was clothed, housed and fed, the white slave of Pullman was forced to work for wages entirely
inadequate to furnish a sufficient amount of food to keep body and soul together. In this condition, on the verge of
starvation, with all hope of justice from the hands of George M. Pullman gone, they revolted. Whether the grievance of
these men was a just one, or their resistance to further encroachments on their rights was right or wrong, after reading
the report of the committee appointed to investigate and report to the American Railway Union Annual Convention, at
that time in session in the city of Chicago, it will be for the reader to decide.
The report, as condensed, in one of the Chicago daily papers, copied and commented on by the St. Paul Branch of
the American Railway Union, was as follows:
After showing by way of contrast, that $30,000,000 worth of Pullman stock paid its holders 9-1/2 per cent in
dividends last year, the report goes statistically into a comparison of wages in the past year, with the wages received by
the Pullman employees when the strike was inaugurated. A fair example of the general reduction is given in a
comparison in the price of labor involved in the construction of a freight car in 1888 and 1893.
Lot 1526.
Oct. 1888.
Nov. 1893.
Car carpenter
$13.00
$7.00
Truck builder
.90
.60
Truck labor
.31
.09
Hanging brakes
1.20
.65
Delivering, forging and casting
1.05
.35
Delivering lumber
.88
.21
Framing
.40
.12
Total
$17.74
$9.02
Other comparisons in the same department show that the wages of men employed in building freight cars, have been
reduced 49, 57-1/2 and 47 per cent on contract work since 1888 and 89, and a long list of figures from the account of
men in the upholstering department, show that cuts have been made in the prices paid for piece work during the last
twelve months ranging from 33-1/3 to 50 per cent. The painters, according to the figures given, have been cut 20 per
cent since 1893 and were receiving, when the strike went into effect, only 23 cents per hour, while the union men
employed by the boss painters in Chicago were all busy under the scale, whereby they are paid 35 cents per hour until
June 15th, and 32-1/2 cents during the summer months.
The machinists, sheet iron and tin workers, foundrymen and blacksmiths had all been reduced from 30 to 50 per cent
during the last year, and even heavier reductions, according to the report, have been made in other departments.
Although wages had been previously reduced, the greatest cut went into effect last fall in the higher grades of labor.
The reduction then made was from 80 to 20 per cent and in the lower grades 30 per cent. For example, the price
paid for the decorating finish on the outside of a Pullman sleeper before the reduction, was $40.00, and now it is
$18.00.
By working hard for ten hours a decorator may earn $1.90.
This sweeping reduction included all classes, and the laborers were compelled to work for from 70 cents to $1.00
per day, all this in the face of the fact that when a reduction was made three years ago, the men were told that as long
as the shops stood there would never be another cut in the wages of those who worked upon the Pullman sleepers.
A committee of girls, from those who were barely keeping body and soul together by working piece work for $2.50
and $3.00 per week, asked the foreman for an increase to enable them to live, and his answer was: If you cannot live
upon the pay you are getting, go out and hustle for more. Why should we wonder that houses of prostitution find no
difficulty in procuring inmates?
Think of young women having to board and clothe themselves, and in many instances supporting an invalid mother or
young brothers and sisters on such meager wages.
[Pg 16]
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The cold blooded avarice of the Pullman company is not even satisfied in requiring its employes to work for
starvation wages, for in what he exacts from his tenant employes he is even more grasping.
That model town of Pullman is owned by the Pullman company and everything about it is made to pay toll to this
grasping monopoly.
All employes must rent their houses from this slave driving corporation. There is now in the city of St. Paul a
gentleman who formerly worked in Pullman, and growing tired of paying so much rent for such poor accommodations,
moved to the adjoining hamlet, and rented a better house for $8.00 per month. He was at once informed that if he
wished to retain his situation he would have to move back, and he did so. The house was of the average kind and was
called a cottage, consisting of two rooms down stairs, each 10 × 14 feet, and three rooms up stairs, one of which, the
front room, was 10 × 12 and the two rear rooms each 8 × 10 feet, lighted front and back, with no bath room or other
convenience, and the whole, a part of a solid row or block. For this abode there was exacted a monthly rental of
$17.00 although the cost would not exceed $1,000. A four room flat rents for $14.50 per month, and if you should
want one of these cheap cottages with inside blinds for the front window, you must pay 50 cents per month for that
much style. Some tenants have paid 50 cents per month for this luxury for more than thirteen years, which is pretty good
interest on the cost of those blinds.
About 100 acres of land is covered with dwellings and the rent derived is about $500,000 annually, which is over 8
per cent per annum on the investment.
In many of these houses families are crowded into attics in order to reduce expenses to enable them to procure the
necessaries of life.
Recently a new church was erected in Pullman, known as the Green church and parsonage, for which is demanded a
monthly rental of $60.00 and for a good sized audience room, and two smaller ones attached Mr. Pullman charges the
Methodist Episcopal society $500 per year. These rents must be paid in advance and are deducted from the wages of
the men, and notwithstanding that the wages have been reduced no reductions have as yet been made in the rent.
The manner in which these men have been bled in the matter of rent, is fully equaled in the manner in which money for
water and gas has been extorted from them. When the town was built a contract was made with the Village of Hyde
Park, to furnish water at the rate of four cents per thousand gallons, and incredible as it may appear, this water was
furnished to the Pullman tenants at ten cents per thousand gallons. In other words he charged $3,000 per month for the
water which cost him but $1,200. This represents an annual profit on this one item of $21,000.
Could cold blooded heartless avarice go further? Yes; in the matter of gas which was manufactured and furnished to
the people by the Pullman company itself, and although the cost is but 33 cents per thousand cubic feet, the tenants pay
$2.25 per thousand while the same gas is furnished the residents of Hyde Park for 75 cents per thousand.
This adds from three to four dollars per month to living expenses in the average house at Pullman.
Another source of income which is wrung from the unfortunate victim is for heat, for which the company charges for
six months in the year $10.80 per month.
It might be well to state also, that no person is allowed to keep a horse, unless the animal is kept at the company
stables for which $3.00 per week is charged.
Such were the conditions of affairs discovered by the investigating committee in this model town, nor was this all.
Miss Curtis, a delegate to the convention representing a ladies' lodge of the American Railway Union at Pullman, and
whose father died in September, '93, was obliged to work fourteen hours per day in order to earn fifty cents at the
same work for which she received prior to the first reduction $2.25 per day, and not satisfied with reducing her wages
to this starvation point, the company insisted on the payment of a debt of $60.00 contracted during her father's illness.
This is but a sample of the devilish cruelties perpetrated on the employes by the Pullman Company to satisfy their hellish
greed for gold.
This corporation cannot plead poverty for thus treating its employes, as its capital stock is $30,000,000 and carries
an enormous surplus of $18,000,000 which is termed a reserve fund. Mr. Pullman's personal wealth is estimated at
about $25,000,000. Quarterly dividends of not less than two per cent have been paid regularly on the capital stock,
and the stockholders receive every three months $600,000 as their share of the earnings. It is to enable them to pay this
immense sum every three months, that the wages of its employes have been reduced. Can it be wondered that the
American Railway Union took the matter in hand and declared a boycott on Pullman cars. When the report was
received every brother present was deeply moved, and it was the unanimous sentiment of the convention to declare a
boycott, but before taking action, apprised the various local unions of the state of affairs then existing, and received the
sanction of the local bodies. They then decided that if the Pullman Company would not submit the difficulty to
arbitration on or before the 26th day of June, to cut off the Pullman cars and refuse to handle them until the matter was
settled. This action was taken June 22, and decided action held off until June 26, in hope that committees appointed to
wait on Mr. Pullman would be successful in gaining some concessions whereby a peaceable settlement could be arrived
at before resorting to the boycott, and, although several committees were sent to the management and every honorable
means resorted to in order to bring about an amicable settlement, it was of no avail and there was nothing for the
American Railway Union to do but enforce the boycott.
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CHAPTER III.
FIRST DAY OF THE STRIKE.
The 26th day of June was awaited with more than ordinary interest by the people of Chicago on account of the
proposed boycott.
The first train to leave Chicago handling Pullman cars was the Chicago and Erie Buffalo Express, and hundreds of
men gathered to witness the departure at 2:55 P. M.
It started out on time with several Pullmans attached and several Pinkerton detectives on board. This was owing to
the fact that it had been made up before the time set for the boycott to go into effect, but drawbars had been chained
together and fastened with padlocks as a safeguard against cutting out the Pullman cars. Everyone was anxious to see if
the engineer would pull it out. All doubt was soon set at rest however, as the engine backed onto the train and started
out on time as usual. The crowd then waited to see if the next train, the Limited Express, on the Grand Trunk, due to
leave at 3:10 P. M., would meet with the same success, and after seeing this train also pull out on time, the crowd
dispersed.
The trains on the Monon Route, Santa Fe, and Eastern Illinois also departed with their accustomed regularity and
without interference, and at 6.00 o'clock, as every train was running on time, Mr. Pullman and the railway officials were
quite jubilant at what they considered a complete failure of the American Railway Union to perform the task it had
undertaken. But inside of three hours they were doomed to disappointment, for at that time not a wheel was turning on
the Illinois Central with the exception of express trains that had been started before the strike was ordered.
The strikers might have stopped the Diamond Special which leaves at 9:00 P. M., but through consideration for the
passengers who had already purchased berth tickets, and adhering strictly to the instructions of their leaders to do
nothing to discommode the travelers who in all probability were not acquainted with the existing state of affairs, this train
was allowed to proceed. The strike that paralyzed the traffic of the entire country was started in this manner. Early in
the afternoon a committee of five switchmen, employed on the Illinois Central, made their appearance at the
headquarters of the American Railway Union in the Ashland block, to learn authoritatively the nature and purpose of the
order issued requiring them to refuse to switch the cars of the Pullman Company, as the instructions received by them
through Organizer Meyers of the union, were not sufficiently definite, so they claimed, to warrant their resisting the
railroad company, and forfeiting their positions by such action. The switchmen, they said were willing to help the
Pullman strikers, but they wished to know to a certainty what was expected of them. The directors of the union
immediately held a conference with the delegates the result of which was an order to strike if the company insisted on
them switching the Pullman cars. Those who were not members of the American Railway Union were guaranteed equal
protection if they joined the strike, and the result was a complete tie up of the Illinois Central R. R.
The Chicago Times, in an article next morning, said that for rapidity of conception and execution this strike which
probably involves five thousand men, beats anything of the kind on record, and in the same article says: the efforts to
sidetrack the cars of the Pullman company yesterday was carried on with strict conformity to law and order.
With the exception of a crowd attracted out of a curiosity to see what might happen, there was nothing unusual about
the depot, there was no boisterous talking, no threats were made, and the few squads of police officers sent there to
preserve order, had nothing to do.
Train No. 7, due to leave at 9 o'clock, hauling two Pullman coaches filled with passengers, did not leave on time
there being a delay of 30 minutes before it finally pulled out of the depot. After running within one hundred yards of
Grand Crossing it stopped, there being a crowd of about five thousand people at this point of whom there was not to
exceed one hundred and twenty-five railroad men. The engineer refused to start, and although Supt. Collins
expostulated with him it was of no avail, and any further attempt to move the train was abandoned for the time being.
At 11:30 P. M. tower man Cable, who controls the switches at Forty-third street, left his post, and two south-bound
suburban trains were whistling for the switches. They were soon joined by three north-bound trains, a freight train,
Michigan Central Fast Mail, and Illinois Central Limited, and all were tied up until one o'clock in the morning when the
superintendent of terminals threw the switches. The Chicago Great Western, Baltimore & Ohio, Chicago and Northern
Pacific and Wisconsin Central were next to fall in line and refuse to handle Pullman cars.
President Debs, after reviewing the situation, asked the men as individuals to consider the problem involved, saying,
that if the Pullman Company was right, then the strikers must be wrong, but if you feel assured that those men are only
striking to gain that which is every man's right—living wages, then we ask your moral support. There is but one hope for
the laborer. Labor must stand by labor. The corporations have now forced a fight upon us by combining to help the
Pullman company; they have forced us to combine and use the only weapon which the workingman possesses, the
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strike and the boycott. The railroads have never done anything for labor that the latter should hesitate to use these
weapons.
It is a battle between allied monopoly against the rights of working people, it is a matter of broad humanity. I want to
see the switchmen, the car inspectors and other employes wait upon the officials in a manly way, and refuse to handle
these boycotted cars.
I want to appeal only to your reason, and not to influence your passion, but I ask you to take a manly stand in the aid
of men, women and children who have been ground down by the iron heel of the oppressor.
I would rather be a manly pauper than an unmanly millionaire.
I ask every man, as an individual to think for himself and to do what he thinks to be right.
President Debs appealed to the men to commit no acts of violence but act in strict accordance with the law.
The strike had now reached St. Paul, Omaha, Denver, Trinidad, Cal.; Raton, N. M.; Cincinnati, St. Louis and
Duluth, and no intimidation, no threats, no violence of any kind whatever was resorted to. When the men were asked to
handle the Pullman cars, they simply stepped down and out.
CHAPTER IV.
AN APPEAL FROM DEBS.
As the light of dawn proclaimed the birth of a new day so the events that this day would bring forth was the all
absorbing thought and theme of a great number of the American people.
All were anxious to learn the situation, whether interested in the boycott or otherwise, as by this time the whole
western part of the United States had begun to feel the heavy hand of the American Railway Union boycott, and every
railroad from the Missouri to the Pacific coast, from Manitoba to Mexico, and all centers of importance in the West,
Southwest and Northwest were tied up, because the American Railway Union men, in the cause of humanity and right,
would not operate them with Pullman sleepers attached, and the railroad managers, in the cause of oppression, would
not allow them to run otherwise.
Thirteen roads centering in Chicago were now completely tied up, the Santa Fe, Chicago & Northern Pacific,
Southern Pacific, Chicago & Western Indiana, Pan Handle, Monon Route, Chicago & Grand Trunk, Chicago & Erie,
Illinois Central, Baltimore & Ohio, Chicago & Great Western, Wisconsin Central and Cincinnati Southern, and the
General Managers had begun to realize the futility of carrying on the fight, and if they had not received encouragement
and aid from outside sources, would have in all probability ended the strike at once by dropping the Pullman cars.
As a prominent railroad man said when asked about the strike situation: "It is my opinion that the railroads will drop
the fight just as soon as the American Railway Union can demonstrate the fact that Pullman cars can not be hauled
without a long and expensive fight with their own employes. I know that this view of the case was taken by some of the
managers at a meeting to-day, and Mr. Pullman will be notified that he must make a settlement with his men at once,
otherwise the effected roads will drop his cars and resume business."
The Union now felt confident of success. President Debs said: "We are sure to win as our cause is just, there will be
no disturbances as the men have orders that there must be no rioting and no interference whatever with the roads, other
than to refuse to assist to operate them.
"Whatever the officials can do for themselves with the few men at their command let them do; we propose to be fair
and square in this fight, and if within my power to prevent, not one spike belonging to any road will be damaged."
And thus the second day of the great strike came to an end.
June 28th added nine more roads to those already tied up.
The Chicago & Northwestern; Chicago & Alton; Union Pacific; Denver & Rio Grande; Chicago & Eastern Illinois;
Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne & Chicago; Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and the Stock Yard
Terminals, making in all twenty-two roads out and twenty thousand men on strike in the city of Chicago, and not one
act of violence committed that could be charged to a striker.
The Mobile & Ohio at this time succumbed to the boycott and sidetracked its Pullman cars promising not to haul
them again until the strike was settled. This rail road is a large corporation, and its surrender to the American Railway
Union was considered a great victory, and the directors at once ordered the boycott raised as far as this line was
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concerned.
Minneapolis and St. Paul was now beginning to feel the effect of the boycott.
The Northern Pacific was the first in the fight, and the same plan of action outlined at Chicago was followed at these
points when the time came to make up passenger trains. The switchmen refused to couple on the Pullman's and were
discharged.
The mediation committee at once took up the matter with the manager, asking him to re-instate the discharged men,
which he refused to do, and as a result the entire system from the Pacific coast to Minneapolis and St. Paul was called
out.
This plan was adopted and carried out on all the rail roads entering the Twin cities.
The boycott was no longer a fight in the interest of the Pullman employes alone but had resolved itself into a gigantic
contest between organized labor on the one side, and organized capital on the other, and although up to this time there
had been no violence, no loud demonstrations, no threats of any kind, the Illinois Central demanded troops to protect
their property, and the militia was ordered out. On the Pan Handle the Cincinnati Express had the cars of Mr. Pullman
detached, and the officials cried "riot" and asked from Sheriff Gilbert of Chicago a posse to protect the U. S. mail. This
was furnished, and although the mail cars were not molested in any way, the officials refused to allow the mail to go
forward without the Pullman sleepers attached.
Seven more railroads had now come under the ban of the boycott making in all twenty-nine at the close of the fourth
day.
On June 29th President Debs issued the following appeal to railway employes of the country.
"The struggle with the Pullman company has developed into a contest between the producing classes and the money
power of the country.
"This is what Lincoln predicted at the close of the civil war, and it was this reflection that gave the great emancipator
his gloomiest forebodings. We stand upon the ground that the workingmen are entitled to a just proportion of the
proceeds of their labor. This the Pullman company denied them. Reductions have been made from time to time until the
employes earned barely sufficient wages to live, not enough to prevent them from sinking deeper and deeper into
Pullman's debt, thereby mortgaging their bodies and souls, as well as their children's, to that heartless corporation.
"Up to this point the fight was between the American Railway Union and the Pullman company. The American
Railway Union resolved that its members would refuse to handle Pullman cars and equipment. Then the railway
corporations through the General Manager's association, came to the rescue, and in a series of whereases declared to
the world that they would go into partnership with Pullman, so to speak, and stand by him in his devilish work of
starving his employes to death. The American Railway Union accepted his gauge of war, and thus the contest is now on
between the railway corporations arrayed solidly on the one hand, and the labor forces upon the other. Every railroad
employe of the country should take his stand against the corporations in this fight, for if it should be lost corporations
will have despotic sway and all employes will be reduced to a condition scarcely removed above chattel slavery; but the
fight will not be lost. The great principle of American manhood and independence is involved. Corporate power, drunk
with its own excesses, has presumed too far upon the forbearance of the American people, and, notwithstanding a
subsidized press (to which there are many notable and noble exceptions), public sympathy is with the striking employes,
who are merely contending for the right of their fellow toilers to receive living wages for their work.
"I appeal to strikers everywhere to refrain from any act of violence. Let there be no interference with the affairs of the
companies involved and above all let there be no act of depredation. A man who will destroy property or violate law is
an enemy, not a friend to the cause of labor. The great public is with us and we need only to maintain a dignified,
honest, straight forward policy to achieve victory. Let it be understood that this strike is not ordered by myself nor by
any other individual; nor is the strike inaugurated anywhere except by consent and authority from a majority of the
employes themselves.
"Neither is this a fight simply of the American Railway Union. The question of organization ought not be raised, but
every man who believes in organized railroad labor should take his stand on the side of labor, and its battles for his
rights and those of his fellowmen. I have faith in the great body of railroad employes of the country and am confident
they will maintain an unbroken front in spite of any opposition that may be brought to bear against them.
"I am perfectly confident of success. We cannot fail.
E. V. Debs.
CHAPTER V.
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THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SIDES WITH THE MANAGERS.
The fifth day of the great strike showed no cessation of hostilities, the entire Northwestern and Southwestern portion
of the United States was practically at a standstill. Every road entering Chicago was partially, if not completely tied up,
and the General Managers Association, under the leadership of John M. Egan was at sea.
They now realized that they had taken a contract that it would be difficult to fulfill, and without the co-operation of
some greater power they would be defeated. A lack of confidence in their ability to subdue the strikers and compel
them to work, was well illustrated in a meeting between Sir George Pullman and Vice-President Harahan of the Illinois
Central. W. M. Daley, of New Orleans, was the only witness to the meeting and his presence undoubtedly saved Sir
George from a masterly drubbing at the hands of Mr. Harahan. Mr. Pullman entered the office of Vice-President
Harahan, and in the course of time his conversation turned to the strike and its effect on the Illinois Central.
This was the opening round.
It aroused all the ire in the portly form of Mr. Harahan, and with blazing eyes he turned on Sir George.
"You are not fit to govern men," he said; "instead of visiting your own works, you have a number of superintendents
who furnish you with reports, and when they are colored to suit you take them as facts, and a result is business is
embargoed, poverty stalks all over your grounds, you are alone responsible for the present condition of affairs on the
railroads. Why don't you go among your employes and see things for yourself? If you did there would be no such
trouble." Then followed a number of epithets such as thick head, incompetent, over-rated, and the official shook his fist
under the stubby nose of Sir George in a very threatening manner. Mr. Pullman tried to speak, but the Vice-President
broke in on him again. "You think you have a contract with this road that you can rub it in on us, but you can't, never
will we submit to it, the railroads are losing $250,000 a day owing to your obstinacy. You are unfit to act as president
of any company, and if you were to visit your much boasted town to-day, the chances are that you would be dealt with
severely. Why, you are nothing but a figure head, you are not the actual president of the company, for if you were you
would know something about it. You know nothing in regard to the actual state of affairs." It did not take long for the
story to reach the different railroad centers about the city.
It came to the knowledge of the American Railway Union that J. M. Egan and Manager St. John of the Rock Island
road had employed two thousand men in Canada to fill the places of the strikers, and steps were taken immediately to
stop their importation, but with what success it was impossible to determine.
All this time the strike was spreading and the membership of the American Railway Union was increasing rapidly.
The sensational reports of rioting and bloodshed in various yards proved upon investigation to be false, and beyond
doubt circulated by the General Managers and eagerly seized by the subsidized press to win the sympathy of the public
in the interest of the corporations.
The police when questioned positively denied the stories saying there were no grounds for the reports.
Marching orders were received at the headquarters of the Missouri U. S. troops, for the 15th infantry and though it
was not known at the time the orders were received from Washington, it was soon learned that they were to go to
Chicago and assist the General Managers to run their trains.
At this time occurred the tie-up at Minnesota Transfer, which was the most complete and effectual blockade of any
in the strike district. The Minnesota Transfer represents nine different roads. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul;
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha; Great Northern; Northern Pacific; Minneapolis & St. Louis; Chicago Great
Western; Wisconsin Central; Chicago, Burlington & Northern and Belt Line Ry.
All freight through the Twin Cities handled by these roads, is interchanged at this point. It is situated midway between
St. Paul and Minneapolis and employes from three hundred to five hundred men according to the volume of business.
This is a freight yard exclusively, and therefore had nothing to do with the handling of Pullman equipment. But this little
technicality did not prevent this body of men from coming to the assistance of their brothers, and as each road was
brought under the ban of the boycott they refused to handle cars or in any way assist them to operate their line.
On the night of the 1st day of July, the Milwaukee road now under boycott brought in five cars of beer for delivery to
the Great Northern.
The men including the yardmaster refused to deliver the cars, and were sent home. A meeting was called for the night
of July 2nd, and a committee appointed to wait upon the superintendent, Mr. D. M. Sullivan, and ascertain if the men
were discharged. Mr. Sullivan answered in the affirmative, and an unanimous vote to strike was then taken, over three
hundred men, the entire force with three exceptions quit work, and not a wheel was turned except by the superintendent
himself, for ten days.
The general Managers now got in their fine work by utilizing the government. A Washington special to the Chicago
Times says:
Our wretched administration is in the hands of the railroads, there is no doubt about it, Cleveland, Lamont, Olney
and Bissel are at the beck and call of the corporations, from the White House down it has been determined to put forth
every effort even to Gatling guns, to employ every arm of the government even to its Supreme Judges to destroy this
strike and the laboring people concerned in it. The case is decided against the strikers in advance, the wired words of
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the General Managers are accepted as settled facts; what they ask for they will get, what they suggest will be adopted.
The workingmen are to be ground beneath the heel of the military, and if necessary, to force them into submission they
are to be sabered, bayoneted, shot down or taken prisoners or whatever is deemed sternly necessary to compel them
to submit to such terms as their moneycrat owner sees fit to impose.
This is a railway administration. So promptly loyal has Cleveland proven himself to be that it is to be believed that
should the companies desire it, they could have the Executive Mansion for a round house and the White House grounds
for switching purposes.
The managers wired Olney to name Edwin Walker, who is attorney for the Milwaukee road as special solicitor for
the government, to take measures against the strikers as they had no confidence in Milchrist.
He seemed weak, his term was soon to expire and he seemed inclined to avoid harsh measures ablest with the men.
They wanted Walker, he was the corporation attorney in the country; he had been cradled by, and grown up at the
knee of corporations; he was their body and soul in the life and death struggle with their employes.
They urged Olney to clothe Walker with the special United States authority to better protect them and overthrow the
strike. By thus making the railway attorney Walker solicitor for the United States, the control of government power
could be placed in the hands of the corporations to wield against the men. Walker was appointed by Olney and placed
in control over Milchrist in the affairs of the strike. Mr. Walker was known personally by Olney, and Olney is at the
present time one of the counsels of the Santa Fe and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and said to be a director of the
latter road. He has been for years intimate with Mr. Walker, who, by the way, is a hot favorite of Fuller of the supreme
bench. There was, therefore a dozen good reasons for this selection, which addressed themselves to Mr. Olney, who is
in this not as a cabinet officer, but as a friend and director of railway corporations, and he therefore precipitately
granted the request of the general managers. Bissel, also a railroad director, shows Olney's anxiety to come to the back
of the roads. (The truth of the above correspondence could not be denied.) In this way the entire available force of
troops at Ft. Sheridan, including infantry, cavalry and artillery was ordered out by the President of the United States to
assist the railroad managers against the people. Such was the attitude of this government "of the people, by the people,
and for the people" against the people. The railway managers having now secured the federal troops, proceeds to issue
injunctions restraining the strikers from using the power of persuasion on those men still in the service, to induce them to
quit. This order drawn up by Judges Wood and Grosscup was a lengthy one, and peculiarly in harmony with the
corporation interest.
The Chicago Times, in an editorial says: In this Federal injunction, which is in the main eminently just and equally
unnecessary, appears a claim in which certain persons named, and all other persons whatsoever are ordered to refrain
from compelling or inducing, or attempting to compel or induce, by threats, intimidation, force or violence any of the
employes of any of the said railroads, to refuse or fail to perform any of their duties, as employes of said railroads, in
connection with the interstate business or commerce of such railroads, or the transportation of passenger or property
between or among the states; or from compelling or inducing or attempting to compel or induce by threats, intimidation,
persuasion, force or violence, any of the employes of any of said railroads, who are employed by said railroads and
engaged in its service, in the conduct of interstate business or in the operation of any of its trains carrying mail of the
United States or doing interstate business or transportation of passengers or freight, between and among the states, to
leave the service of such railroad. The Times emphatically does not believe that any court whatever has a right to order
men to refrain from attempting by persuasion to induce others to leave the employment they are engaged in. There is a
natural law that in the end will prevail over the formal law built up by lawyers and courts. If as Judge Gary says, the law
is common sense, this injunction will not stand, for common sense will certainly pronounce an orderly and respectful
request to a railroad employee to give up his position and join the organized strikers, no crime. It is idle to plead that a
discreet and just court will only enforce this injunction against actual law breakers, for there is in it an opportunity for
injustice and oppression which makes it wholly bad. The injunction is becoming a menace to liberty, it is a weapon ever
ready for the capitalist, and there should be more careful federal legislation limiting its use.
Certainly if the restraining order of Judges Wood and Grosscup be good law there is no sense in maintaining
organized labor. Childlike trust in the benevolence and fairness of the employer must be the workingman's future policy
if this injunction be made a precedent.
In the meantime the General Manager's association and the subsidized press were endeavoring to impress the public
with the belief that the strikers were a lot of disorderly and riotous law breakers of the worst description. To show how
much truth there was in these tales, I will give the statement of Capt. J. Hartnett as made after dispersing a mob. He
said: There wasn't a railroad man in the whole outfit, but a lot of bums who thought they would have a lot of sport at the
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